2025/06/03 by Elwell, Ricky, J. E. S. Terhune, Christian Schneider +24 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph) #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #FOS: Physical sciences #Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex) #Nuclear Physics and Applications #Optics (physics.optics) #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2506.03018
openalex publication_date 2025/06/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/14 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Here, we report the first demonstration of laser-induced conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy of the 229Th nuclear isomeric state, which provides the ability to probe the nuclear transition in a material that is opaque to light resonant with the nuclear transition. Specifically, we excite the nuclear transition in a thin ThO2 sample whose band gap (∼ 6 eV) is considerably smaller than the nuclear isomeric state energy (8.4 eV). As a result, the excited nucleus can quickly decay by internal conversion, resulting in the ejection of electrons from the surface. By collecting these conversion electrons, nuclear spectroscopy can be recorded. Unlike fluorescence spectroscopy, this technique is compatible with materials whose work function is less than the nuclear transition energy, opening a wider class of systems to study. Further, because ThO2 can be made from spinless isotopes and the internal conversion decay process reduces the isomeric state lifetime to only ∼10 μs, allowing ∼108 relative reduction in clock interrogation time, a conversion-electron-based nuclear clock could lead to a ∼104 reduction in clock instability.